Grain-car door.



.'PAT'ENTBD Nov. 24; 1.903.* A. G. STEINBRBNNBR. GRAIN GAR DOOR.AICATION I' f Ml mm "Agi Wren/cer Y A 0 A l Patented November 24, 1903.

PATENT OFFICE.

ANDREW G. STEINBRENNER, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

GRAIN-CAR DOOR.

SPIEGIFICATIGNforming part of Letters Patent No. '745.259, datedNovember 24, 1903. Application filed May 25| 1903 Serial No. 158.710 (Nomodel.)

To all whom it 'may concern:

Be it known that I, ANDREW G. STEiNBREN- NER, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing in'the city of St. Louis, in the State of Missouri,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Grain-Oar Doors, ofwhich the following is a full, clear, andexact description, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this speci-Iication.

My invention relates to that character of grain-car doors in whichopenings are provided for the exit of grain from the interior of the carprevious to opening the door completely and also an limprovement in theguideway face-stri ps against which the guide-studs of the door operate.

My invention consists in features of nov elty hereinafter fullydescribed, and pointed out in the claims.

Figure ,I is a front elevation of a grain-car door constructed inaccordance with my improvement. Fig. II is a vertical section taken online II II, I. Fig. III is an inside elevation of one of the door-postsof a graincar with the guideway face-strips applied thereto and afragment of the4 grain-door. Fig. IV is a horizontal section taken online IV IV, Fig. II. Fig. V is ahorizontal section taken on line V V,Fig. II, through the door and one of the gate guide members. Fig. VI isa perspective view of one of the gate guide members.

1 designates the posts of a grain-car doorway. These posts are rabbeted,as seen in Figs. II and IV, the rabbets therein extending to the insidefaces of the posts within the car. The production of the rabbetsreferred to provides for guideways 2 between a forward guide strip 3having flanges et and inner guideway face-strips 5 having flanges 6,disposed opposite to the flanges 4 of the strips but separatedtherefrom, as seen in Figs. II and IV. The guideway face-strips 5 areprovided with series of ears 7, that project beyond the rabbetedportions of the doorposts and through means of which said facestrips aresecured to the posts by screws S passing through said parts. At theupper end of each guideway face-strip is a socket 9. These guidewayface-strips are subjected to considerable strain by the guide-studs of agrain-car door, and unless additional means for their retention to thedoorway-posts other than bolts or screws is provided they frequentlybecome loosened as a'result of the strain to which they are subjected.For the purpose of strengthening their connection to the posts I providestuds l0, projecting from their rear faces into recesses in the posts,as seen in Figs. III and IV. These studs affoi d resistance to thelateral movement cfs-aid face-plates and relieve the fastenings coninectin g them to lhe posts of strain, so that the attachment of thestrips remains secure.

il designates a dool` positioned at the inside of the car against theposts l and slidably connected to said posts by studs l2, provided withheads 18, (see Fig. IV,) which operatein the guidfeways 2 between theguideway-strips 3 and 5. These studs l2 are designed to travel upwardlyin said guideways in the raising of the door 1l, so that the studs maybe passed into the sockets 9 of the guideway face-strips 5 when the dooris suspended beneath the roof of the carin the usual manner. It isduring this 'movement of the door and the travel of the guide-studs thatsaid guideway face-strips are subjected to the strain hereinbeforereferred to.

In the door l1 are gateways LL through which the grain within the carequipped with my door is first discharged in emptying the car. Thesegateways are controlled by gates 15, held in the manner to be presentlydescribed. The gates 15 are pliable and resilif ent, being of sheetmetal, and each gate is provided with a handle 16, by which the gate maybe engaged to move'it to and from said gateway.

17 designates gate guide members secured to the door l1 at the sides ofthe gateways therein by bolts or screws 18, that pass therethrough. (SeeFig. I.) Each of the gate guide members is composed of a side wall 19,bearing a curved outer llange 20, extending ap- IOC the side wall 19 ofeach gate guide member is a lug 22, that occupies a position between theupper end of' the flange 2l and the upper extremity of the curved flange20, as seen most clearly in Fig. VI. l

23 designates ears projecting inwardly from the iiange 2l to receivebolts 24. (See Figs. II and VI.) These ears project through the gateways14 and aresecured to the uprights ll of the door ll to hold the lowerends of the gate-guide members firmly to the door.

By the use of a gate of the form described and guide members havingflanges shaped and positioned as set forth I provide a construction bywhich the gates are securely maintained in either closed or openpositions by reason of the frictional contact between the gate and guidemembers. This is due to the gates being pliable and resilient and theouter flanges of the guide-boxes being curved, as described, so that thegate will be iiexed at all times to produce fricticnal contact betweenit and the flanges 2O and 2l and lugs 22 of said guide members, as seenin Fig. II.

I claim as my inventionl. The combination with a graincar door having agateway, of guide members having curved flanges and secured to saiddoor, and

a pliable resilient sheet-metal gate slidably positioned in said guidemembers for frictional contact against said curved fianges when the gateis shifted in said members, substantially as set forth. l

2. The combination with a grain-car door having a gateway, guide memberssecured to said door and each having a straight flange and a curvedflange, and a pliable resilient sheet-metal gate slidably positionedbetween said flanges for frictional contact therewith7 substantially asset forth.

3. The combination with a grain-car door having a gateway, of guidemembers xed to said door and each having a curved flange and a straightange extending a portion of the length of said curved flange, and a lugpositioned between the termination of said straight flange and the farend of said curved iiange, and a pliable resilient gate slidablypositioned between said flanges, and between said curved flange and saidlug to bind bctween said parts when the gate is shifted in said member,substantially as set forth.

ANDREW G. STEINBRENNER.

In presence of- NELLIE V. ALEXANDER, M. P. SMITH.

